What's So Good About Him, Anyways?
by EsophagealEruption
Summary: ComputerFreak101'sSeason5 Buddyshipping Entry : He's always falling asleep in class, lately. Keeping secrets from me. I gotta find out...What's he doing? Who's so important to him that he ditches his best friend?


Hoo, I finally got a chance to sit down and write my submission for this leg of the contest~. I've been working all week, and I was supposed to work tonight and go to school tomorrow, BUT, lucky me, it SNOWED!! Almost three inches! It was very exciting for a place that gets rain, rain, and more rain every year, if anything.

So, this was inspired by...My brain. Oh, and I went to see the Radio City Rockettes, I guess thy kind of got the dancing-acting idea in my head, hahaha. Anyways, I'm not a huge fan of this pairing, or, more accurately, I never really got into it. So I hope I don't...Offend anyone, or accidentally offend them in the other shipping. More history; I decided that, in both of my other entries, the character was 'with' the main character in some way and I wanted to twist it up a bit. I hope no one minds one-sidedness and a different shipping, if only for a little while. And, as a warning, the one-sidedness might not be obvious enough.

* * *

Thunk.

That's the sound Jou's head makes when he falls asleep in Economics every. Single. Day. I have no idea how he still has a B in here. It's kind of annoying, him sleeping and still getting good grades, but... I dunno, I like the way he looks when he's asleep, on his desk. It's kind of like when you look at a lot of blue and feel cooler, smoother, you know what I mean? Or looking at a landscape and feeling calmer. Yeah. Looking at him kind of makes me feel mellowed out, I guess. Maybe 'cause he's my best friend.

Well, I think he is, anyways. I mean, we've known each other forever. I've always had his back, he's always had mine. We know pretty much everything about each other, and each other's family's. I dated his sister for a while, you know. I know his favorite color is green, he likes the sunrise more than the sunset, he hates being cold, and his favorite food is candy, if that classifies. That's not everything I know, but you get the gist. So, I've always been pretty sure of our friendship.

Until recently.

He comes to school tired.

"Oh, Honda, I was just up late studying."

He's always sore.

"Chill out, Hiroto, damn, I played ball with the kids on the block, they're good...Gave me a workout."

He's always distracted.

"Huh? Oh, Honda, hey, what? I was thinking about some...Stuff."

He misses school more often than he used to.

"Oh, Honda, I just missed the bus, chill, man."

And sometimes, I see him whispering to himself and dancing.

"I'm going to be a choreographer, okay? Don't be such a critic."

But that last one is always said so jokingly, that I am pretty sure he's just screwing with me.

He's always _deflecting_, and avoiding me, and we don't hang out as often, and...

He woke up. He looked at me sleepily, waved, yawned, and sat up, stretching lazily. Not a minute later, the bell rang, and we stood.

"Hey, Honda, what'd I miss...?" he asked, snapping his binder shut and ruffling his hair to stabilize the desk-head he'd gotten.

"Eh, nothing, really," I said. "So, what're you doing after school?"

"Er..I have a lot of homework. You?"

I'm not doing anything. Let's hang out. Screw homework. That's what I wanted to say.

"Oh, uh, I have a lot of homework, too, we can hang another time, maybe?" I asked hopefully.

He nodded, and rushed off wordlessly.

That went on for, oh, I don't know, three weeks before I decided it was too fishy for me, and decided to see what the halibut Jou was doing in his spare time.

&&&&&&&&&

I followed him after school one day. He went home, and stayed there for an hour. Then, he left again, and got on the bus. I bicycled after the bus. It's not as hard as it sounds – traffic in Domino is pretty bad around four. He got off on the square, and looked around desperately, ducking and weaving between people. I almost lost him once or twice.

Eventually, he ducked into an old, kind of shoddy-looking warehouse. I frowned, disdainful of what he might be doing. Pushing crack? Shooting heroin? Selling porn? Oh god, what if he was making it? I should really have watched him more closely, I chided myself before sliding into the decrepit building unnoticed. I tipped my bike against the wall, and explored further, but in the furtive cover of shadows only.

It took some time, but I found a moldy curtain, and pushed it aside. Despite the wretched outside, the internal features of this place – I guess it's a play theater – were very nice, and rather up-to-date.

Unnoticed by the many people up front, I sat down in the back row. I heard many people laughing, a few dancing, stretching, singing, and committing other various acts. An authoritative-looking young lady stepped up to center stage, and put her hands on her hips. A moment later, she started whipping out commands and places and...She was loud. I heard her as though she were right next to me, shouting. I was thoroughly impressed by her vocal ability.

She slid offstage, and I noticed that most of the actors, I guess, had disappeared. They are _good_, I figured. A few others slid behind a curtain, stragglers from the group. The lights dimmed.

&&&

An hour and a half later, I have to admit, I was thoroughly impressed. Again. This play, I'd never seen it before, was modern, witty, romantic, and kind of cliché. And Jou, I think, had a main role. Did I mention the dancing part? Oh, here, I will now: It was wordless. It was a ballet. I didn't really understand it, but the music was pretty, and some of those guys can really bend. It was awesome. I saw him laughing, and waving. He was walking towards this end, and someone taller than him was holding his hand. I felt a good mix of feelings at that – wonder, disgust, jealousy, anger, jealousy again, curiosity, another wave of jealousy. Yeesh, what's with all the jealousy?

I knelt down between the seats, hiding successfully.

"...I'm not sure. I think we're ready for next weekend, but..." I heard Jou say. I know his voice really well, and its inflections from A to Z. Right now he was happy. Excited. I could tell.

"..Eh, We are. I wouldn't sweat it if I were you, Jou-kun,"I heard the other say. I pricked my ears up. I knew that I knew that other voice.

"Having a lead is so stressful," Jou complained.

"...I'd have loved to have gotten a lead, but I'm not nearly as...Limber as you are," the other voice said, ending in a playfully perverse tone.

Jounouchi laughed.

"You're pretty limber yourself, mister, how about naked Twister?"

I heard them both laugh and they walked by.

Jou was walking normally, and reaching into the other's pockets.

"I want to drive!"

"Uh, no, I don't think so. That Porsche is practically brand new," said the slim silhouette, smacking Jou's hand away. Honda almost bounced up and started a fight.

Was that _Kaiba_?

As in _Seto Kaiba?_

As in _We hate moneybags and he's too rich and a douche and we hate him_ _Seto_goddam_ Kaiba_?!

I fumed, as the pair laughed and exited his hearing range. A few minutes passed.

I stood up, and stalked out, grabbing my bike violently and cycling out of there, all the way home at top speed.

I got home and fumed.

Seto G'damn Kaiba.

How could he do this to me?

After all this time?

After all those years, spent together?

He chose that lame, cruel, emotionally numb priss over me?

What's so good about him, anyways?

It took me a while to realize I'd cried a little.

I didn't understand that.

Jou was just a good friend.

I should be happy for him.

But I'm not.

Because he chose...He's seeing...

Oh, that really grinds my gears.

What's so good about him, anyways?

Well.

I tried.

Kind of.

This story reminds me of that wreck I had a while back. I started out just fine, hit the water and whoosh, got way out of control and loose. Oh, well, I put all the effort my teachers left me into it. Which wasn't really enough, but...

I had a good idea, and then I got tired. I actually had four pages of the 'starter' fic for this, but there was so much tangent that I erased it and made it shorter. I'mma post the other one later, because I kind of sort of liked it, but it'll be lightly chaptered, for readability.

Well, I hope it was alright to read! Thanks!


End file.
